Skype Sale To Investor Group Led By Andreessen Horowitz Confirmed

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The NY Times is now confirming our report last week the sale of Skype to an investor group led by Andreessen Horowitz is imminent. The deal will be announced Tuesday, says Brad Stone and Claire Cain Miller, citing unnamed sources (perhaps people that…read our post last week).

As we reported, Index Ventures is also participating in the acquisition. And the unnamed private equity firm is apparently Silver Lake Partners, who is likely supplying the bulk of the capital needed to pay the $2 billion price tag.

eBay announced earlier this year that they would be spinning off the company in an initial public offering in 2010. These announcements are often made to generate acquisition offers from potential suitors.

It isn’t clear if current Skype CEO Josh Silverman would continue to lead the company after any acquisition. Sources we’ve spoken with have said he is generally well thought of both within Skype/eBay as well as the possible investors.

More from our post last week:

Skype, under Silverman, grew revenue to $551 million last year, and eBay has said it expects the company to top $1 billion in revenue in 2011.

Presumably, the investor group, if successful in acquiring Skype, would run it privately and eventually prepare it for an initial public offering.

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OvervieweBay is an online auction and e-commerce marketplace.
The platform connects millions of buyers with sellers globally utilizing PayPal to ensure secure transactions. eBay products can be sold either via a silent auction in which users are able to input the maximum price they are willing to pay and for which the site will automatically increase bids as necessary up to that maximum, or via the Buy …

OverviewSkype is for doing things together, whenever you’re apart. Skype’s text, voice and video make it simple to share experiences with the people that matter to you, wherever they are. With Skype, you can share a story, celebrate a birthday, learn a language, hold a meeting, work with colleagues – just about anything you need to do together every day. You can use Skype on whatever works best for you …